I took the front wheels off when I did the plugs/wires.

 

Ditto

 

When you work on plug wires, two pieces of advice:

1) Don't pull on the wire to remove it from the spark plug. This often breaks the wire. Grasp the boot and twist to break the boot loose from the plug, them holding the boot, pull directly away from the plug.

2) When changing spark plug wires, hold the new distrib cap next to the old one, and move the wires ONE at a time, making sure to put each on the correct terminal. Don't make the mistake of pulling all the wires off, then trying to figure out which terminals they go on.

And when instlaling spark plug, be extremely careful not to csoss-thread them, and not to push sidways on the wrench when screwing them in. They have a ceramic insulator and you can break them fairly easily - which will create a miss.

 

OK...so I've got the distributor cap and rotor done...all is good...but these dang retainer clips for the plug wires...I can't get them apart to save my life. I've been trying not to break them, but I'm almost thinking I have to in order to get them off, am I right, or have a just lost all patience and have to call it a night...something so simple, yet so frustrating!!!

 

Naw man look closely at the retainers and one side right on the end of them has a release.....put a poket-sized screwdriver in the end of it...push in...and pop it up......they hinge on the other side. The best way to change the #3 plug (middle on the driver's side is use a cheap plug socket...the kind that come in those 47 piece socket sets that they sell at odd-lots for $3.99 (LOL) that has a hex on the end of it...put the socket on the plug and then use a 3/4" box-end wrench on the socket to break the plug loose....then spin it out by hand.

 

So, now I know why they charge so much for this stuff, because these clips are killing me...I can't seem to push hard enough on the end to make it come apart...do I really need them? Can I break them please? It would make me feel so much better!!!

Am I a complete idiot because I can't get these stupid clips apart? [:@]

 

You're not stupid, just inexperienced.
Have a good look at the clip and do what Lastcoupe said, just use one of those pocket screwdrivers.

You can do it!

 

Alright, thanks to you guys...I got the wires, plugs, dist-cap, rotor cap, fuel filter and PCV all changed out. Yeah, in order to get to the middle plug on the drivers side, I went out and bought a jack and jacked up the engine a bit to get at it...then it was cake...AND I had a firend of mine help me out a bit. Which helped a lot...

Only bad thing, the SES light is still on...I'll have to have it checked and we'll see what the deal is...it seems to be running fine...so, I'm at a loss...

oh yeah, those clips...got all of them but two to come apart without breaking. All I did was use a bit more brute force on them and they came apart just fine.

I'm sure I'll be back for some help as I go along...thanks again!!!

 

ok between the middle plug and the end plug closest to the rear of the engine, there is a white sensor. I think it might be an engine temperature sensor or a knock sensor. I accidentaly broke that when i was changing my plugs, it causes my ses light to go on. I managed to put it back on somehow and the ses is now off. Check that. Mine ran fine when it was broken off, just the ses remained on.

 

ok here is a stupid question but i hate to assume anything, when you jacked up the engine did you take the bolt out of the motor mount??